The Crystal Barista: DIY Festival STEM Exhibitor
Activism, Outreach and Education
Held at the Utah State Fairpark every August, the 17th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival Presented By Harmons is Utah’s largest local-centric arts, music, science and technology festival. Over the three-day weekend, experience the best of our state’s creative culture with over 500 local artists and makers, three stages for music and dance performances, a youth entrepreneur area, a STEM building with hands-on exhibitions, dozens of food vendors and more. Kids of all ages and dogs are welcome — find more info and get tickets at craftlakecity.com!
Adrienne McElwain possesses a passion for rocks that would make the Fantastic Four’s The Thing blush. McElwain credits her deep love for rocks to her father’s rock shop. “I’ve worked with rocks ever since my ninth birthday, so I have a 30-year history with geology,” she says. “In 2018, when our physical storefront closed down, I made it my personal goal to dig in mines all over the world and collect [rocks]. Since then, I’ve been to more than 40 countries and all seven continents, collecting, filming and discussing the different aspects of the local rocks and minerals wherever I go.”
Utah is a rockhound’s dream, but McElwain’s favorite local rock is the Rainbow Chert found in Caineville. “Tumbling that variation of chert produced something like an optical illusion, where the end result was matte in its appearance but felt glossy like a typical tumbled stone — so the look never matched the feel of the rock, and it was like my eyes couldn’t focus on it properly.”
McElwain’s love for minerals is rivaled only by her passion for ethically sourced, small-batch roasted coffee beans. “For our Meteorite blend, an Argentinian dark roast, we add a small meteorite sample from Campo del Cielo, Argentina in a little specimen bag,” she says. “That’s the whole idea behind Crystal Beans Coffee: You get a special blend of coffee with a rock or mineral sourced from the country of the beans.” Find out more at the DIY Fest and online at crystalbarista.com!
Read more about local artisan’s from SLUG here:
The 16th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival Presented by Harmons
10-Year CLC Artisan: Candace Jean
